For our Season 6 Finale, we speak with conservationist, storyteller, filmmaker and fellow pop culture enthusiast, Luwi Nguluka. She shares her path from medicine to wildlife activism. Luwi is the co-founder of "Women For Conservation", Zambia's first network for women working on wildlife initiatives and is involved in the “This is not Game” bushmeat campaign which tackles the illegal trade. To learn more about Luwi’s work, check out her TEDx Talk titled What conservation can cook like for an African.

The old adage "A picture is worth a thousand words" explains how photography can create conservation stories accessible across cultures. Our guest for this episode uses beautiful images to help save wetlands around the world. Gab Mejia is a National Geographic Explorer, Nikon Ambassador for Asia, Jackson Wild Media Lab Fellow, and an engineering undergraduate student. Join us for a conversation about his path from hobbyist to international award-winning science communicator.    Check out Gab Mejia's Instagram @gabmeija Image credit: Gab Mejia Location: Mindanao, Philippines

Backyard Botany & Birdsongs - In the first segment WWU student Liz Cunningham interviews a local expert about how a love for gardening can help science spread. The second segment shares how bird and whale song expert Dr. John Bower became an ornithologist at Fairhaven College.

What makes people accept scientific information? This episode is part 2 of our short Sharing Science series where we talk to researchers who study how science is communicated. Our guest is Dr. Reyhaneh Maktoufi a Civic Science Fellow at NOVA and a producer for Story Collider. She is also an artist who uses comics to emphasize the importance of trust and encourage empathy in science communication.

How do we humans interact with scientific information? This episode is part 1 of our short Sharing Science series where we talk to researchers who study how science is communicated. In this episode, our guest is Dr. Sara K. Yeo from the University of Utah. She specializes in Science and Risk communication and most recently has started to study how humor is used to share scientific information on social media.

The year 2019 was hailed the International Year of the Periodic Table. Western Washington University professors staged a reenactment at the Spark Museum featuring the scientists credited with the creation of the Table of Elements in 1869.    Spark Science was lucky enough to get a few of them into the studio late 2019 to talk about why we are celebrating this scientific tool 150 years later.   Thank you to our guests Dr. Serge Smirnov a biochemist, Dr. Tim Kowalczyk a physical chemist, and Dr. Dietmar Schwarz a biologist.

What are clam gardens? Join us on Spark Science’s first research field trip up the coast of Vancouver Island, BC. Dr. Marco Hatch answers this question by showing us a day in the life of a marine ecologist. We learn about clam habitat and how people have been managing these beaches for thousands of years.   Photo of clam garden rock wall located in Fulfod Harbor B.C. courtesy of Dr. Marco Hatch. For more information on his research, go to his website https://wp.wwu.edu/hatchlab/ If you would like to learn more about the garden in the image and other efforts to manage these historical gardens, check out the Clam Garden Network.

For our 100th episode, our first and most frequent guest is back, Dr. Melissa Rice. Days before quarantine, we entertained a live audience at WWU with stories of missions past and details about the future Mars Rover launching this July.   If you would like to learn more about Dr. Rice’s work you can visit https://wp.wwu.edu/mars/ You can follow her on instagram @westernmartians  & Twitter @martian_mel

Who shapes the lives of science students? Here at WWU, two students edited and produced podcasts for their final project in a spring science communication course. They decided to feature the people they admire. This episode features physics major Chase Boggio interviewing WWU physics professor Dr. Takele Seda about his education in Ethiopia. The second segment features engineering student Maria Watters speaking with her mother, a doctoral candidate in Public Health Sciences, about when she ran a free clinic in Nepal.

When you think of winter in the Pacific Northwest, what comes to mind? Snow, rain, darkness? Many people think of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which is why we held and recorded a LIVE show at the start of 2020 to share tips on how to deal with SAD, depression, grief and anxiety. Our guest was the energetic and media-savvy WWU Executive Director for Counseling, Health and Wellness, Dr. Sislena Ledbetter.    For more information about Dr. Ledbetter, you can visit drsis.com Image courtesy of drsis.com